1. Field of Invention
The present disclosure relates to a surgical instrument, and in particular to a surgical instrument for facilitating the implantation of a prosthetic component, such as a hip prosthesis.
2. Description of Related Art
Prostheses are commonly utilized to repair and/or replace damaged bone and tissue in the human body. For example, a hip prosthesis may be implanted to replace damaged or destroyed bone in the femur and/or acetabulum and recreate the natural, anatomical articulation of the hip joint. During a total hip arthroplasty procedure, the surgeon may ream the acetabulum of a patient to prepare a reamed area for receiving an acetabular cup prosthesis, and rasp the proximal femur to provide a rasped area for receiving a femoral hip stem prosthesis that includes a stem and neck portion. The femoral stem portion includes a bone-engaging surface configured to be accepted into the rasped area of the proximal femur, and the femoral neck portion includes a head component having an articulating surface to articulate with the acetabular cup prosthesis seated within the acetabulum, for example. The articulating head component is seated atop a head region of the femoral neck portion that is utilized to secure the femoral head component to the hip stem prosthesis.
Once the femur is prepared, a femoral hip stem prosthesis having selected characteristics, such as offset and leg length dimensions, is inserted into the prepared femur. Offset and leg length dimensions as used within this disclosure are described in the Zimmer®M/L Taper Hip Prosthesis with Kinectiv® Technology brochure submitted herewith in an Information Disclosure Statement, the entire disclosure of which is hereby explicitly incorporated by reference herein. The center of the head region of the neck portion of the femoral hip stem prosthesis may be offset substantially in a medial or lateral direction with reference to a person's anatomy, for instance, from a nominal center of rotation, with the medial-lateral offset dimension determined with reference to a longitudinal axis of the femoral hip stem prosthesis. Additionally, the center of the head region may be substantially in a proximal or distal direction spaced from a nominal center of rotation along a leg length dimension aligned with the longitudinal axis of the femoral hip stem prosthesis. Leg length and offset dimensions may be determined using suitable templates together with x-ray images, for example.
Typically, a surgeon uses a surgical instrument to facilitate the implantation of a hip stem prosthesis. The utilized surgical instrument may be, for example, an inserter that assists with insertion of the hip stem prosthesis and/or an impactor that assists with seating of the prosthesis within a prepared canal of the proximal femur.